24

Jul

Rail passenger will get Rs 10 lakh insurance for premium of 1 paisa

The Indian Railways will soon provide insurance of Rs 10 lakh to its daily passengers, at an unbelievable premium of one paisa only. Moreover, passengers travelling in reserved category will have to pay Rs five for the same insurance.

A Railway official said, in case a passenger dies or is permanently disabled in a train accident, he would get a compensation of Rs 10 lakh, partially-disabled will get Rs 7.5 lakh, Rs five lakh will be given to those who will be admitted in hospital and for transporting of mortal remains, Rs 10,000 will be paid.

The official said that as per Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s announcement to launch a passenger insurance scheme, IRCTC has already started selecting the insurance companies. A total of 17 companies were short-listed, out of which three companies — Royal Sundaram, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Shriram General were selected.

He said that communication was going on with these companies, related to premium rates of train classes and other formalities.

The official said by the first week of September, this service will start in reserved categories on an experimental basis. Initially, this facility will be available to those passengers those, who purchase online tickets through IRCTC website. Later, this would be connected with tickets purchased from PRS counters.

The official said as per talks, he was hopeful that the premium rate would come down to less than Rs five.He further said that Railways PSU will hold talks, pertaining to insurance with these companies for unreserved and all seasonal tickets.

According to Railway data, around 2.3 crore people travel by railway daily and maximum are daily passengers and those travelling in unreserved categories.